Shipping structure



May 29, 1945. P; w. MILBURN ET AL SHIPPING STRUCTURE Filed Sept. 1, 19422 Sheets-Sheet 1 PAUL W. MILBUQN WILLKAM D. ADAMSOM IN V EN TORS y 1945-P. w. MILBURN ET AL 2,377,023

SHIPPING STRUCTURE Filed Sept. 1, 1942 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 PAUL W. MILBUIZNWILLIAM D. ADAMSON INVENTORS BY I (7 0 I ,4 7'7'U/P/VEY Patented May 29,1945 Paul W. Milburn, Los Angeles,v and William D.

Adamson, West Los Angeles, Calif., assignors to Douglas AircraftCompany, Inc., Santa Monica,

Calif.

Application September 1, 1942, Serial No. 456,964

2 Claims.

This invention relates to a method and device for transporting articlessuch as airplane wings and other airplane parts, which. are of lightweight and large size, and which are readily daniaged by impact withsurrounding objects, and particularly to a method and device fortransporting articles of this character without the use i of protectingboxing or crating.

It is common practice in the airplane industry,

as in other industries, to fabricate some of the wise damaged upon.contact with surrounding objects. The standard method of transportingwing structures has been within enclosing boxes or crates. One objectionto this method is the relatively large volume of car space occupied perarticle shipped. and another objection is the difficulty of so securingthe wing panels within the box that they will not become loosened intransit and be damaged by contact with the box wall and the securingdevices within the box.

One object of this invention is to provide a method and device fortransporting articles of the general character above set forth withoutthe use of boxing or crating which shall protect the transported articlefrom injury or damage.

Another object of the invention is to provide'a means and method fortransporting articles "of the character described without boxing orcrating, by which the article will be held immovable with respect to thetransporting vehicle and out of contact with any part of the vehicle orwith any other object' It is another object of the invention to providea device and method for transporting articles of the character describedwhich will be economical of shipping space and will lend itself to theloading of a maximum number of articles in a transporting vehicle.

It is another object of the invention to pro- Sill vide a device andmethod for transporting articles of the character described by which thearticles are supported inthe transporting vehicle without contact of anykind with any object except at points on'the article at whichthelarticle is particularly adapted to receive stresses without anresulting damage. i

It is another object of the invention to provide a method and device forloading, transporting and unloading articles of the character describedwithout the use of enclosed protective boxing or crating.

Another object of the invention is to provide a method and device fortransporting a wing panel assembly which includes a nacelle body,without the use of enclosed protective boxing or crating and which isespecially adapted to such an assembly. r

Further objects and advantages of this invention will be brought out inthe following description taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawings and appended claims. In the drawings, which are forillustrative purposes only:

Figure 1 is a perspective view showing a shipping structure embodyingthe invention and having mounted thereon an inboard wing panel assemblyincluding a nacelle body, the panel being shown in phantom lines.

Figure 2 is a side elevational view of the ping structure shown inFigure 1.

Figure 3 is a plan view of the shipping structure.

Figure 4 is a rear elevatlonal view of the shipping structure.

Figure 5 is an enlarged sectional view taken as indicated by the line5-5 in Figure 3.,

Figure 6 is an enlarged sectional view taken as indicated by the line6-45 of Figure 3.

In Figure 1 an inboard wing panel I! of an airplane is shown supportedupon a floor H) of a transporting vehicle, such as a freight box car, bymeans of a shipping structure II. The wing panel [2, as will appearhereinafter, is secured to the shipping structure H at only fourreinforced contact areas of small size, and the structure is in turnsecured to the car floor. The dimensions of the wing panel and of theshipping structure and their relative positions are such that no part ofthe wing panel contacts the floor, side walls or roof of the car, or anyother object; except only the four above mentioned areas at which it issecured to the shipping structure. The wing panel is thus held bothimmovable under the shocks and vibrations to which it is subjectedduring transit, and out of contact with any surrounding objects, impactwith which might dent or other wise deform it.

The wing panel assembly I! is carried with its leading edge l4 adjacentthe floor, and its trailing edge 15 directed toward the roof, the bodyof the panel l3 being horizontally offset with respect to the shippingstructure I I and the nacelle shipbody It being vertically above theshipping structure with its lower rim ll directed downward.

The base of the shipping structure I l consists of four angle irons,welded together to form a rectangular frame having a front bar 24, sidebars and a rear bar 26. The angle irons forming the base are disposedwith one flange lying horizontal in" contact with the floor and theother flange standing vertically upward therefrom.

Two' upright angle irons 2'! are welded to the rectangular base at thetwo rear corners thereof, and two other shorter upright angle irons 28are similarly welded to the rectangular base at the front cornersthereof. Horizontal channel-iron bars 30 extend from the upper-end ofthe front being secured to these uprights by welding.

A front supporting bar 32 connects the upper ends of the front uprights28 and a rear supporting bar 34 similarly connects the upper ends of therear uprights 21-.

The-shipping structure is braced by crossed diagonal angle iron bars-40and inclined angle iron -.-ba 1's 38, shown. The brace bars 40arereinforced, at their intersection, by a gusset 39 and .the two endportions of each brace bar 38 are reinforced at their connections withthe asso- -ciated horizontal side bar 30 by a gusset 31.

Each of -,the sidebars 25 of the base of the shipping structure isformed with bolt holes 42 to receive bolts for fastening the shippingstructure to the car floor. 1 4 I The structure, constructed as abovedescribed,

4 provides a relatively small, compact sturdy frame which-may be solidlysecured to the car floor and which will not have relative movement ofits parts when subjected to the dynamic stresses applied to it by theweight of the wing panel assembly-when the car is stopped or started orgiven sudden movements of acceleration or deceleration in transit.

The two points indicated by arrows $3 0m the nacelle frame It andthe-two points indicated by arrows 44 on, the front spar of thewingpanel, to

which the engine mount is secured when the plane is assembled,areutilized to secure-thawing panel assembly l2 to the shippingstructure. The

points 43 are aligned with the ends of the rear supporting bar 34-andthe points 44 with the ends :of the front supporting bar 32 in mountingthe wing panel for shipment. Two spacer sleeves '45 Two paneLwith thebores of these sleeves in registry with two bolt holes at the endsrespectively of the supporting bar 32. Bolts 46 are inserted from belowthrough the bolt holes-in these two supporting bars and in the spacingsleeves. Nuts threaded upon the upper ends'of thebolts secure immovablyto the ship- 'A' pin 41 is welded to each spacer sleeve and attached tothe adjacent bracebar 4!] by achain 48 and fastener bracket 49 welded tothe brace 40,

to-provide for securement of the spacer sleeves against misplacement orloss.

The spacer sleeves 50- areshown as welded to the supportingbar 32,although if desired they "may be'separable from the shipping structureuprights 28 to the rear uprights 21 respectively,

and secured thereto in the same manner as spacer sleeves 45.

To facilitate loading and unloading the assembled wing panel andshipping structure and handling and storage operations about a factoryor warehouse, the shipping structure is provided with a detachable wheel71 at each of its four lower corners." Referring to Figure 5, thehousing for each front wheel comprises an outside plate Bil and topplate 6! suitably secured to adjacent elements of the framework of theshipping structure.

A cross angle iron bar 41 connecting the front uprights 28 at a leveljust above the top plate 6i of the front wheel housings providesadditional means for mounting these housings upon the framework of theshipping structure.

To the inside face of the outside plate and -to the surface of the topplate 6| are secured respectively the guideway bars 62 and 63 providingguideways 64 within which slides a rectangular wheel supporting plate 5.The wheel H is rotatably mounted between wheel hangers IE3 which areriveted at their upper edges to the wheel supporting plate 75. The topplate 3| of each front wheel housing is centrally apertured at 80 toalign with a similar central aperture 8! in the wheel supporting plate15. ,The wheel assembly is in stalled in the housing by sliding theplate 15 in the guideway 64 from the inner ends of the guideway, and,upon the apertures 80 and BI coming into alignment, by inserting fromabove a fas- To prevent misplacement of the fastening pin 18, it may beattached'to the frame structure by a fastening chain, as shown in thedrawings.

The rear wheel assemblies are identical with the front wheel assemblies.The rear wheel housings comprise an inner sid plate 85, an outer sideplate 84 and a top plate-83, welded at suitable points to the framemembers of the I shipping structure, as shown in the drawings. The

rear wheel assemblies are installed and secured in the same manner ashas already been set forth in describing the front wheel-construction.

The horizontal flange of each side bar 25 of the rectangular base of theshipping structure is bent upwardly at 86 to provide a recess forinserting a crow bar or other toolfor prying the shipping structure andwing panel upward from the floor a distance sufficient to permit theinstallation of the wheel assemblies.

In loading-a freight car or other transporting vehicle the wingpanelassembly is first bolted to a shipping structure with wheels in place.The wing panel assembly and shipping structure is then placed on a truckand delivered to the car door. The shipping structure with the wingpanel assembly is rolled into the car and moved into position forsecurement to the car floor. A crow bar is inserted in one of therecesses 86 and operated to lift the shipping structure sufficiently to'remove the wheel assemblies from place at "one end of-the shippingstructure.

the bolt holes 42.

.sembly mounted thereon is removed from the car and delivered to a placeof-storage.

Preferably the wheel assemblies do not accompany the shipment in thefreight car. A

proportionately small but adequate number of these wheel assemblies arekept on hand at each shipping, receiving or storage place for use inloading, unloading and moving the shipping structures with wingassemblies mounted thereon.

Thus the cost of the equipment is less and the danger of loss and damageto the wheel assemblies in transit is eliminated. v.

The positions of securement of the mountedwing assemblies to the floorof the car are selected to place them close to each other and to theside walls of the car in such relative positions with respect to eachother and to the car walls, as determined by their overall horizontaldimensions and shape, that as many articles as possible may be shippedin the car. The immovability of the wing assemblies, the absence ofenclosing box or crate side walls and the position of the shippingstructure vertically beneath a portion of the article are all factorscontributing to the realization of this result.

While there have been 'described herein certain embodiments of thisinvention, the invention is not to be understood as confined to theseparticular embodiments, but is to be given the definition and scopeexpressed in the following claims.

We claim:

1. In a frame device for-shipping without protective boxing, an articleof extensive dimensions relative to said device and readily damaged byimpact with surrounding objects, the combination of: base members havinghorizontal surfaces for contactual engagement with the floor of thetransporting vehicle, and having bolt holes intersecting said surfacesfor the accommodation of bolts to secure the device rigidly to thefloor; a superstructure rigidly secured to said base members; supportingmembers carried by said superstructure at levels substantially abovesaid base members and having surfaces for contact with surfaces on thearticle when said article is spaced out of contact with the floor, saidsurfaces being the only surfaces on said device disposed for contactwith the article, and said supporting members having all told at leastthree bolt holes intersecting said surfaces of said supporting membersfor disposition therein or bolt means for reception within bolt holes inthe article to rigidly secure the article to said device; bracing meanson said superstructure for bracing it against stresses acting in everydirection,

between the floor and article; at least three wheel mounts carried bysaid device, each mount including a horizontal apertured plate spacedsubstantially above said horizontal floor contacting surfaces and a pairof parallel horizontal guideway means proximately beneath said plate; awheel assembly including a horizontal wheel hanger plate for laterallyclose-fitting, slidable, disposition in said guideway means, having anaperture registrable with said plate aperture; and a drop pin forengagement with said apertures to prevent relative movement of saidplates.

2. A device for shipping a relatively longarticle having a flexibleframe substantially covered .by an imperforate skin comprising: basemembers adapted to rest on the floor of the transporting vehicle, saidbase members having passages therethrough for receiving bolts to securethe device rigidly to said floor; a unitary superstructure rigidlysecured to said base members, said base members and superstructureconstituting a compact openwork frame assembly of small size relative tothe Width and length of said article; supporting members carried by saidsuperstructure at levels remotely above said base members and havingsurfaces adapted to

